Message indicating icon mechanism

Abstract

A paging system where messages are numbered before they are transmitted. The paging receivers in the system compare both the number and the text information in each message which is received to the message number and the text information in the most recently received previous message. The comparison is used to determine if the same message was previously received and if the any messages were missed. The receiver includes an icon which is turned on to indicate if a message has been received. The icon is set to a blinking state if a message is received and if there is a break is the sequence of message numbers indicating that a message has been missed.

What we claim is: 
     
       1. In a radio paging system where a data stream is transmitted from a transmitting system to a plurality of radio paging receivers, each of said radio paging receivers having associated therewith a unique identification indicia, said data stream including messages for a plurality of said radio paging receivers, each of said messages being intended for a particular one of said receivers, each of said messages including text and a unique identification indicia indicating the particular receiver for which said messages is intended, said system including, numbering means in said transmitting system for sequentially assigning message numbering to the messages intended for each particular receiver and for transmitting said numbers with the associated messages in said data stream, whereby said data stream includes messages for a plurality of receivers, and sequential messages in said data stream do not have sequential numbers,   control means in a particular one of said radio paging receivers including:   message signal generating means for generating a message-received signal upon receipt of a message which includes the identification indicia of said particular paging receiver;   message storage means for storing received messages which include the identification indicia of said particular paging receiver, said message storage means storing the text and message number of messages that are stored;   interrogation means for comparing the message numbers and text of sequentially received messages and for generating a missing message signal if the compared message numbers are not sequential; and   icon means for indicating a message condition wherein said icon means displays a predetermined first icon form upon receipt of a message received signal and displays a second icon form upon receipt of said missing message signal.   
     
     
       2. The icon mechanism of claim 1 which further includes message non-duplicating means for comparing a message number with a previously received message number which is stored in said message storage means and comparing the newly received message text with the stored message text associated with the previous message number, and which discards a newly received data stream if both the message number and the message text are identical. 
     
     
       3. The icon mechanism of claim 1 wherein said predetermined icon form and said other icon form are the same symbol, and wherein said predetermined icon form is the symbol displayed in a steady state and said other icon form is said symbol displayed in an alternating off-and-on state. 
     
     
       4. The icon mechanism of claim 3 which includes means for selectively indicating a missing message number when said second icon form is displayed. 
     
     
       5. The icon mechanism of claim 3 which includes means for acknowledging receipt of a message by the user. 
     
     
       6. The icon mechanism of claim 5 wherein said means for acknowledging includes means for clearing said predetermined icon form and said other icon form when all transmitted messages have been received and acknowledged. 
     
     
       7. In a radio paging system where a data stream is transmitted from a transmitting system to a plurality of radio paging receivers, each of said radio paging receivers having associated therewith a unique identification indicia, said data stream including messages for a plurality of said radio paging receivers, each of said messages being intended for a particular one of said receivers, each of said messages including text and a unique identification indicia indicating the particular receiver for which said message is intended, said system including, numbering means in said transmitting system for sequentially assigning message numbers to the messages intended for each particular receiver and transmitting said numbers with the associated messages in said data stream, whereby, sequential messages in said data stream do not have sequential numbers,   control means in a particular one of said radio paging receivers including:   message non-duplicating means for comparing the message number and text of a newly received message which includes the identification indicia of said particular paging receiver with the message number and text of the previous sequentially received message and for generating a message received signal if the text and message number of said messages are not the same;   interrogation means for comparing the message numbers of sequentially received messages and generating a missing message signal if the compared message numbers are not sequential; and   icon means for indicating a message condition wherein said icon means displays a first icon form upon receipt of a message received signal and displays a second icon form upon receipt of a messing message signal.   
     
     
       8. The icon mechanism of claim 7 wherein said message non-duplicating means includes means for comparing a message number with a previous message number and comparing the message text with the message text associated with the previous message number. 
     
     
       9. The icon mechanism of claim 8 which includes a message buffer for storing received message data and message number data for delayed acknowledgement by a user and for comparison with later received message signals. 
     
     
       10. The icon mechanism of claim 7 wherein said first icon form and said second icon form are the same symbol, and wherein said first icon form is the symbol displayed in a steady state and said second icon form is said symbol displayed in an alternating off-and-on state. 
     
     
       11. The icon mechanism of claim 7 which includes means for acknowledging receipt of a message by the user. 
     
     
       12. The icon mechanism of claim 11 wherein said means for acknowledging includes means for clearing said icon form when all transmitted messages have been received and acknowledged.